By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that with the type of fraud that the present Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is involved in, Nigerians should brace up for the theft of mandates in 2019.
According to a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, he expressed this while addressing the National Executive Council of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Thursday, Governor Wike said that INEC has been manipulating the electoral process in Rivers State because it was directed to favour the politician who diverted Rivers State funds and used same to sponsor a particular political party.
He said: “If INEC goes on with this type of electoral fraud, then Nigeria is in trouble in 2019. What type of country are we living in when there is open electoral stealing?
“They want to allocate seats to a man who took our money to sponsor their party. They said they don’t want to embarrass him for giving them our money “.
The governor berated INEC for attempting to smuggle in a concocted result of Tai Local Government Area, which was one of the eight local government areas where elections were suspended by INEC on March 19, 2016.
He said: “It is shocking and embarrassing that several months after INEC suspended elections in eight Local Government Areas, it has come up to concoct fake results for Tai Local Government Area.”
The governor noted that the state will never succumb to the intimidation and blackmail of political authorities who plan to use INEC to impose legislators on the state.
“I don’t believe in violence, but nobody should trample with our rights “, he said.
On the amnesty programme of his administration, Governor Wike said that though the repentant cultists and kidnappers will not be offered cash, they will be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society.
He added that the development programme of his administration would be felt in all the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
In his remarks , President of the Ijaw National Congress, Alatubo Charles Piriye Harry commended Governor Wike for his developmental strides, assuring him of the support of Ijaws in the discharge of the people’s mandate.
He lauded the governor for the reconstruction of the Bonny Jetty which will serve the marine transport needs of several Ijaw communities.
